Outback Intermittent Power Loss

[paulf6]

My wife has a 2002 Outback, 4 cyl. with about 27K miles that she bought new.
It has been a very good car and she loves it. For the past two thousand
miles, the car has developed a serious power loss when accelerating normally
from a traffic light. The engine acts as if it is rapidly being shut off and
turned back on multiple times. This power loss is even more noticeable if
accelerating from a stop and turning left at the same time. While the
problem was intermittent at first, it is happening more and more often.

My wife says that once her speed reaches 40 mph or above, there is no power
loss at all. She took the car to her Subaru dealer who hooked it up to their
computer then drove it to test for the problem. They found nothing and noted
on the work order that they had checked the A/F sensor and found it to be
normal as did an inspection of the fuel filter.

Her concern is that this power loss could potentially be dangerous when
turning a corner at a busy intersection, since her car loses power to the
point of stalling. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks. -Paul

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

If she can demonstrate this for a passenger she needs to take the mech.
for a ride. If not, there are few things that cause 'driveability'
problems that won't usually throw a CEL (did she get an error light?)
but they could include, IAC(idle air control), Engine Temp Sensor(not
heat gauge), TPS(throttle position sensor), even plugs(though you
usually get a misfire code and CEL). Most technicians are OK once you
'get their attention' and they can sense the problem - they may need to
actually look for clues like carboned-up plugs, bad plug wires, bubbles
in the coolant, etc.

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[George Adams]

From: "paulf6" (e-mail address removed)

She took the car to her Subaru dealer who hooked it up to their
computer then drove it to test for the problem. They found nothing and noted
on the work order that they had checked the A/F sensor and found it to be
normal as did an inspection of the fuel filter.

*You* take the car back to the dealer, take a mechanic or the sevice mgr for a
test drive and insist they fix the problem.


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

 

[paulf6]

Thanks, Carl. No error lights at all. -Paul

If she can demonstrate this for a passenger she needs to take the mech.
for a ride. If not, there are few things that cause 'driveability'
problems that won't usually throw a CEL (did she get an error light?)
but they could include, IAC(idle air control), Engine Temp Sensor(not
heat gauge), TPS(throttle position sensor), even plugs(though you
usually get a misfire code and CEL). Most technicians are OK once you
'get their attention' and they can sense the problem - they may need to
actually look for clues like carboned-up plugs, bad plug wires, bubbles
in the coolant, etc.

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[JW]

My wife has a 2002 Outback, 4 cyl. with about 27K miles that she bought
new.
It has been a very good car and she loves it. For the past two thousand
miles, the car has developed a serious power loss when accelerating
normally
from a traffic light. The engine acts as if it is rapidly being shut off
and
turned back on multiple times. This power loss is even more noticeable if
accelerating from a stop and turning left at the same time. While the
problem was intermittent at first, it is happening more and more often.

Good discription! Actually if you told this to the shop and they didn't
know what it is and didn't fix it, I'd find another shop. If you wish to
see what it is, take your fuel filter off and back flush it into a glass
bottle, using the fuel from your car. Once you let it settle a couple
minutes you should see water and perhaps a good bit of rust in the bottom
of your glass with gasoline floating on top. Two causes, one is water in
the station's tank, the other is not getting your gas cap on so that the
O-ring seals. The cornering making it worse is the giveaway. As the gas
sloshes to the side of the tank in a courner it raises the water level at
the fuel pickup making you pull straight water rather then on the level
where the water is now at just under pickup level.